Analysts: Germany’s ‘selfish’ EV vote aims to channel Chinese retaliation onto France or Spain

Sander Tordoir, chief economist at the Centre for European Reform, told Euractiv that Germany could potentially enjoy “the best of both worlds” by enjoying the protective benefits of tariffs while avoiding the negative effects of any Chinese retaliation.

However, he also warned that, regardless of whether China retaliates against German combustion engine vehicles, German automakers are experiencing profound structural problems.

“This line of business is receding anyway: the only damage [of Chinese tariffs on German cars] would be an acceleration of a declining business model of selling luxury internal combustion engine vehicles built in Germany and shipped to China – because China is switching to electric, no matter what,” he said.